the top headline on politico is fiscal cliff deal increasingly unlikely. i think a lot of people are feeling that pessimism right now. what are you hearing? >> well, i think what you've got here, alena, is a nash equilibrium to borrow from economic theory and game theory. each of the players believe they are pursuing their optimal strategies given the strategies of the other players and there's no reason to change it. i think as observers of this, the american public, you can say there's a real reason to change it. in terms of the politicians, i think they're pursuing their best strategy right now and that leads us toward that cliff. unless something changes in the next couple of days, most folks now believe that any fix will happen after january 1st. >> the house gop leadership put out a statement yesterday. i want to read part of it for you. it says in part, the house has acted on two bills which collectively would avert the entire fiscal cliff if enacted. those bills await action by the senate. if the senate will not approve, and send them to the presid